Medical staff works at the Molecular Biological Testing Department for Covid-19 research of HCMC Hospital for Tropical Diseases. Photo: VnExpress

Vietnam records lowest count of daily Covid cases in 72 days

Vietnam confirmed 8,722 new Covid-19 domestic cases Wednesday in 55 provinces and cities, the lowest in the past 72 days.

Hanoi led the number of new cases with 2,716, followed by Da Nang with 778 and Thanh Hoa with 353.

No new death has been recorded Tuesday and the Covid-19 death toll in the country remains at 37,780.

On the same day, 6,795 patients have recovered, raising the number of recoveries to 2,068,853.

In the fourth wave that hit the country late April, over 2.26 million cases have been confirmed, cited VnExpress.

Vietnam has recorded 186 cases with the Omicron variant to date, with 92 of them in HCMC.

So far, 74.1 million people have been vaccinated with two doses and 28.3 million have received three doses.

Vietnamese edtech market attractive to investors

Educational technology (edtech) startups in Vietnam have drawn many domestic and foreign venture capital funds thanks to their high development potential.

Earlier, English learning app ELSA successfully called for US$15 million at the Series B round co-led by Vietnam Investments Group and SIG.

Revealing the reasons to invest in Vietnamese edtech, Justin Nguyen, Director of Monk's Hill Ventures highlighted that Vietnam is an attractive market with a fast growing young middle-income class where education receives great attention, and great efforts are being taken by the Government to draw investment in the sector. These are factors making its edtech market attractive to investors, he said.

Photo: Equest

He noted that since 2008, the Vietnamese Government has spent 15%-20% of public investment on education, one of the highest levels in the world and only after Malaysia in the Southeast Asian region. Therefore, although the country’s edtech market is still young, it is vibrant with startup founders looking to tap unexploited opportunities through renovation to improve learning efficiency, he said.

According to Le Hoang Uyen Vy, CEO of Do Ventures that has invested in online learning platforms of Vuihoc and Manabie, the online learning market of Vietnam boasts huge potential with more than 23 million students, rising income of the middle class and one of the highest ratio of Internet users in the world. She noted that Vietnamese people spend 30% of their income on education, and parents are willing to pay more for higher quality education for their children, according to VOV.

Despite the bright future, startups in the field have a long way to go to rise stronger in edtech area. Amid the pandemic, many startups have grown strongly, but none have been able to clinch an overwhelming position in the market, keeping the door open for investors, she said.

Michael Ngo, ELSA Country Director in Vietnam said that online education will become a new standard in the future, especially amid the pandemic. Digital technologies help reduce cost and increase people’s access to high quality education.

Currently, no domestic edtech firm is valued at US$100 million. Experts said that Vietnamese edtech firms still lack breakthrough technologies to grow stronger.

Vy said that the Vietnamese edtech market is still in its infancy, which means Vietnamese start-ups need time to catch up with the development speed of other companies in larger markets in the region. She advised edtech start-ups to develop healthy revenue models towards sustainable growth.

Vietnam take five days to return to FIFA top 100 ranking

Vietnam have returned to the top 100 in the FIFA world rankings just five days after slipping out, thanks to their victory over China in the World Cup qualifier.

For their 3-1 win on Tuesday night Vietnam got 15.47 points, which enabled them to climb four places to 98th. They have 1,218.55 points and are behind Congo with 1,221.4 points.

Ho Tan Tai (number 13), celebrates after scoring for Vietnam in the World Cup qualifiers game against China on February 1, 2022. Photo: VnExpress

Since FIFA put out the previous ranking list on December 23 Vietnam have played four games.

They lost 3.01 points after two disappointing games against Thailand in the AFF Cup semifinals, and another 6.45 points for a 0-4 defeat against Australia in a World Cup qualifier, reported VnExpress.

Vietnam remained the number one team in Southeast Asia and 17th in Asia. Thailand have climbed to 112th, 14 places behind Vietnam after their AFF Cup title in December.

The 3-1 win against China made Vietnam the first Southeast Asian team to win a game in the final round of World Cup qualifiers. Thailand advanced to the final round in 2018, but they only managed two draws.

Supermarkets, wet markets reopen on February 2

Many supermarkets and wet markets in big cities including those in Hanoi resumed operation on February 2 - the second day of the first lunar month, after having one day off to celebrate the Lunar New Year holiday (Tet).

Major supermarkets such as Big C, Co.opmart, Aeon, and MM Mega Market reopened the door at 8 a.m., offering a variety of goods to customers.

Nguyen Thi Kim Dung, director in charge of Co.opmart Ha Dong in Hanoi, said the supermarket has a system of cold storage facilities to stock goods, meaning prices are maintained and left unchanged compared to the pre-Tet period.

Photo: VOV

However, fresh vegetables such as lettuce are not currently available. "As the gardeners harvested vegetables to serve customers in the pre-Tet period, and now they are off work during the Tet holiday, so vegetables are not on offer at the moment," said a supermarket employee, cited VOV.

On the first day of reopening, retailers offer discount programs, coupons, and lucky draw to attract customers.

Similar to supermarkets, wet markets also resumed operation and continued to follow all necessary Covid-19 prevention and control measures. Customers are required to don face masks, maintain a safe distance from others, use hand sanitizer, and have their body temperature measured.

Meat prices at wet markets remained unchanged. Pork prices hovered around VND90,000 to VND150,000 per kilogram, while chicken is priced at roughly VND130,000 to VND150,000 per kilogram.

Vegetable prices rose slightly by VND3,000 to VND5,000 per kilogram due to an increase in transportation costs over Tet.

Vietnam win 2-0 over Thailand in play-off round in women's football World Cup

The national women’s football team defeated Thailand 2-0 in the 2023 World Cup’s play-off round.

The team dominated the game from the start, causing Thai goalkeeper and her teammates to struggle to keep the ball out of the net, VNA reported.

The national women’s football team defeats Thailand 2-0 in the 2023 World Cup’s play-off round on February 2. Photo: AFC

Huynh Nhu scored the first goal for Vietnam at the 19th minute and just five minutes later, Thai Thi Thao doubled the score.

This is the first game of the Vietnamese team in the play-off round. It will face Chinese Taipei on February 6.

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